Emirates puts Latin America hub on hold until 13 nations sign up

Emirates put its plan to establish a hub in Panama connecting cities across Latin America with Asia on hold because govt accords permitting cooperation with a key local carrier took too long to put in place. Emirates has secured approvals from only 3 or 4 of the 13 countries from which it needs backing for a wide-ranging code-share deal with Copa Airlines, its president, Tim Clark, said. Emirates initially aimed to commence flights to Panama in February, before slipping the date to March and then saying last week that services won’t commence until late 2016 or early 2017. “Panama was a sort of entry point for South and Central America for us and has huge potential, but we needed to get the aero-political structures in place,” Clark said. <br/>